SAN LEANDRO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 1996--MDL Information Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq National Market System: MDLI), the leading supplier of scientific information management systems, has signed an exclusive agreement with Molecular Informatics, Inc., Santa Fe, New Mexico, to market bioinformatics software and databases designed to speed development of the next generation of pharmaceuticals, agricultural control agents, and gene-based therapies.

Molecular Informatics develops tools that automate genomics research. MDL, which serves the world's major pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotechnology companies, will incorporate Molecular Informatics' BioMerge, a genomic data management product, into its line of systems for high-throughput discovery.

Senator Pete V. Domenici Praises Agreement

U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, who has long supported development of bioinformatics technology both nationally and in his home state, said the agreement with MDL will spur progress in the field. According to Domenici, "The agreement between these two companies signals real -- and very rapid -- progress in the development of Molecular Informatics. This new alliance will ensure that critical advances in bioinformatics will be made with ample resources to achieve success in genomic research."

"The pharmaceutical industry has committed over $1 billion to generate genomic information," said Steve Goldby, chairman and CEO of MDL Information Systems, Inc. "The market for tools to interpret that information and create new drugs will be significantly larger than our current market in chemistry.

"MDL had long provided chemists with the industry's most widely used scientific information management software. This agreement with Molecular Informatics enables us to serve the needs of research and molecular biologists with the same high standard.

"MDL's product offering now spans the entire spectrum of drug discovery: chemistry, biological screening, and genomics. MDL's ISIS is the industry's most widely used system for managing chemical information. MDL SCREEN is the only industrial strength tool for controlling the screening process -- and BioMerge completes the picture by giving biologists the strongest, most comprehensive system for managing gene sequence data."

"Our partnership with MDL enables Molecular Informatics to integrate genomics information with chemistry and high-throughput screening information in a way that supports our customers' laboratory processes," said Dr. Edward Cantrall, president and CEO of Molecular Informatics. "In addition, Molecular Informatics will benefit from MDL's experience in the marketplace and will give us the ability to deliver our products to the broadest possible research market. We see this as a highly beneficial long term partnership."

Fully Integrated Systems for High-Throughput Discovery

BioMerge software simplifies the complex task of analyzing geonomic data from multiple sources. BioMerge is a client/server data management and integration system that combines relational and object-oriented technology to provide flexibility and high performance in manipulating genome-scale data.

In addition, BioMerge users can subscribe to "Genomes Today," a daily update of all newly published genomic sequence data from around the world. By using BioMerge in conjunction with MDL's ISIS (Integrated Scientific Information System), MDL SCREEN and MDL's Central Library, researchers can manipulate chemical, biological and geonomic data in fully integrated high-throughput discovery information systems.

ISIS is a client/server system that helps researchers select diverse chemicals for discovery by manipulating data such as chemical structures and reactions, biological data in relational database management systems (RDBMSs), and text from data repositories on multiple servers throughout an organization.

MDL SCREEN is a client/server product that manages the process of high-throughput screening, an automated research technique that screens compounds against biological targets. MDL's Central Library is a client/server system for managing combinatorial chemistry libraries. Combinatorial chemistry allows researchers to rapidly produce large numbers of compounds for testing.

Researchers are amassing DNA sequence information at ever accelerating rates, and interpreting those data has proven to be a slow and daunting task. To discover the function of a gene and determine its practical application to pharmaceutical development, scientists must compare their own information with genomic data in public databases, a meticulous and time-consuming process.

BioMerge enables researchers to speed this task and others by providing advanced relational database technology geared to storing, retrieving, and analyzing genetic information. It organizes both proprietary and public genetic data into a single relational system.

What is Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics, the science of storing, retrieving, and analyzing computer-based information used in biological research, has become the key to advancing and applying genomic data. Genomics promises to bring a new degree of focus and precision to drug discovery.

In order to achieve this goal, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical companies need bioinformatics tools to access their own rapidly growing experimental databases, and to incorporate data from public information sources.

In an era in which scientists using automated systems can decode up to one million base pairs of DNA per day, bioinformatics tools enable researchers to manipulate this information, control errors, and speed analysis. Well designed bioinformatics systems allow researchers to work with genetic sequences as well as molecular structures.

About Molecular Informatics, Inc.

Molecular Informatics, Inc., a privately held company, is a pioneer in the design of data management software that automates the integration, management, and analysis of DNA sequence data from gene discovery, genome characterization, gene expression, and population variation studies.

Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Molecular Informatics is developing products that will establish a data management, integration, and communication standard for handling genomic information. The company is a spinoff of the National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

About MDL Information Systems, Inc.

MDL Information Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated solutions that accelerate high-throughput discovery and development in the life science and chemical industries.

Our software systems, databases, and services help customers manage, communicate, and analyze the volumes of data associated with modern R&D workflows. With applications supporting chemical and biological information management, bioinformatics, automated synthesis and screening, and materials science, MDL is committed to keeping pace with new technologies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotechnology industries. MDL has offices worldwide with headquarters in San Leandro, California.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those discussed in "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1996 and the June 30, 1996 Form 10-Q. -0-

Note to Editors: MDL is a registered trademark and Central Library, ISIS, and MDL SCREEN are trademarks of MDL Information Systems, Inc. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: MDL Information Systems Inc.

Paul Bendix, 510/895-1313 Ext. 1506

or

Molecular Informatics Inc.

Edward Cantrall, 505/995-4475

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